An officer in the security forces was also killed in the raid on a building in Irbid, 80 kilometres north of Amman, that sparked several hours of fighting until dawn today, officials said.
Advertisement
The statement of the security forces says one fugitive was arrested, and that an officer and four wanted men were killed. The security services seized automatic weapons, munitions and explosives from the group.
Two security sources said dozens of special forces had been involved in the operation and that the militants had been holed up near a Palestinian refugee camp in the centre of Irbid.
Amateur video posted online showed groups of men, apparently onlookers, standing in a street as heavy gunfire could be heard in the distance.
The target of the raid was a “terrorist group”, Momani told The Associated Press in a text message.
Jordan has tried and sentenced dozens of people, mostly Jordanians returning from Syria.
Jordan’s military has conducted sorties against Islamic State hideouts in Syria.
Since previous year, Jordan assumed a high-profile role in the US-led military campaign against the extremist Islamic State group which controls large areas of neighboring Iraq and Syria.
Irbid, Jordan’s second largest city, also has one of the largest concentrations of Syrian refugees in the kingdom, which hosts over 1.4 million who have fled the near five-year war.
Advertisement
Jordan has always been vigilant about the risk of militant strikes in a country that has sustained attacks before, notably bombings on Amman hotels by Al-Qaida-linked militants during the USA occupation of Iraq.
